“Morning, A-Ming.” Qiao Chengyu had just arrived at the school gate when he saw Xi Ming getting out of a car. He waved at his friend, who had noticed him.
“Chengyu.” Xi Ming walked over to Qiao Chengyu’s side. Running into his best friend first thing at school lifted his mood a little.
Qiao Chengyu could tell at a glance that Xi Ming was unhappy. He smiled and ruffled his hair. “For someone who’s actually pretty good at his studies, who’d have thought you’d be a kid who hates school?”
“Don’t mess with it I just fixed it.” Xi Ming leaned back to dodge Qiao Chengyu’s hand that was wreaking havoc on his hair, smoothing it back into place as he spoke. “It’s not that I don’t like school, it’s just.”
Xi Ming’s words trailed off mid-sentence, and Qiao Chengyu looked over. “Just what?”
Just that he’d finally managed to become a college student, only to be thrown back into high school. He could say he was pretty frustrated about it. After all, Xi Ming could only be described as a student who did well academically, not one who loved learning.
If he had to name the only two things that bothered him after being reborn, one was his hair that had turned curly, and the other was having to go through high school all over again.
“Forget it, it’s nothing.” He naturally couldn’t tell Qiao Chengyu about the rebirth, so Xi Ming could only come up with an excuse. “It’s just that balancing academics and sports is still a bit tiring.”
“There’s no helping that, who told you to be so crazy about figure skating?” Qiao Chengyu slung an arm around Xi Ming as he spoke. “To juggle both skating training and school, you’ve just got to work hard like this.”
“Oh, right, speaking of which ” Qiao Chengyu was about to say something when both he and Xi Ming were drawn to the sight of a car pulling up. Qiao Chengyu’s smile grew even more pronounced when he saw who got out.
“Ouyang!” Qiao Chengyu waved with the hand that wasn’t around Xi Ming, catching the attention of the person who had just gotten out.
Wearing the same school uniform as them, yet somehow a magnet for all eyes that was their good friend Ouyang Hao.
Ouyang Hao walked over to them, his gaze landing on Xi Ming. His tone was as arrogant as ever, but with a warmth only friends could detect. “You’re back in class.”
Because of the championship held in Harbin, plus the rest period afterward, Xi Ming had missed over a week of school. Today was his first day back, which was why he and Xi Yu had almost forgotten this morning.
Before he could say anything, Ouyang Hao continued, “The championship congrats on taking fourth place.”
“Hey, I was going to be the first to congratulate him!” Qiao Chengyu protested from the side. That was exactly what he’d been about to say before he got interrupted by spotting Ouyang Hao’s car.
Ouyang Hao didn’t respond, but the corner of his mouth curled up, and both Qiao Chengyu and Xi Ming could see the smugness on his face.
Xi Ming found it both amusing and helpless. “Didn’t you guys already text me congratulations the night the competition ended? It doesn’t really matter who’s first or last now.”
Because Xi Ming was a professional figure skater, his close friends had also taken an interest in the sport, especially his competitions. So he could always count on receiving their congratulations or consolation right away.
Still, they always seemed to care about who got to congratulate him first when they met in person.
The three of them walked toward the classroom together. The moment they stepped inside, Xi Ming’s eyes went to a boy sitting in the back row, wearing glasses and reading a book with his head down. Even though his face was obscured by his lowered head, one could tell he was someone hard to approach the temperature around him seemed to drop a few degrees.
Qiao Chengyu, always the most energetic of their group, called out directly, “Hey, Gu Fu, you’re already here. So early.”
Gu Fu looked up from his book, expressionless. “You guys are the ones who’re late. In three minutes, you’ll be tardy.”
“Oh, is that so? Haha.” Qiao Chengyu acted as if he’d just realized this, scratching the back of his head with a laugh, looking cheerful and carefree.
Gu Fu, who had long since labeled Qiao Chengyu a single-celled organism, didn’t look at him. Instead, he spoke to Xi Ming, who had taken the seat beside him. “Congratulations on your result at the championship. You did much better than before. Looks like your form has been recovering a lot lately.”
Gu Fu’s tone shifted as he asked, “You didn’t get injured, did you?”
Xi Ming knew why Gu Fu was asking.
Back at the start of last season, Xi Ming had been injured from overtraining, and it had affected his performance until Xi Ming’s past-life memories took over.
“Yeah, yeah, you didn’t get hurt, right?” Qiao Chengyu leaned in from the seat behind. “Don’t push yourself just for results. If the junior level doesn’t work out, you can always wait for the senior level.”
Ouyang Hao also turned his gaze to Xi Ming.
“I’m really fine.” Xi Ming assured them. “And haven’t you noticed my level is way better than last year?”
“Which means” Gu Fu caught the implication in Xi Ming’s words.
As Xi Ming nodded in confirmation, the other three broke into instinctive smiles. “Awesome!”
Xi Ming’s conversation with his friends was quickly interrupted by the teacher who pushed open the door, and during the morning self-study that followed, Xi Ming found himself thinking about his friends’ concern from just moments ago.
Unlike those who didn’t understand and claimed Xi Ming’s performance in competitions was erratic, his friends naturally knew better that his instability came from the effects of puberty.
For ordinary people, the normal growth spurt of adolescence is just a phase, but for figure skaters, it’s a trial. Increases in height and weight affect the center of gravity in their jumps, leading to a decline in technical skill.
Compared to the women’s singles, which is harder to overcome, the men’s singles are usually less affected, and the increase in strength during puberty can also bring improvements in technical difficulty.
But if one’s height shoots up by more than ten centimeters within a single year, that’s a different story altogether.
Xi Ming was exactly that kind of different story. Though this situation had also been anticipated by his family and coach.
Because when Xi Ming first started skating, no one thought he would go professional. After all, he was only four years old when he first stepped on the ice, and it was only because his older brother had an interest in skating that the little bean-sized Xi Ming, who clung to his brother, was brought along to play as well.
Even later, when he showed talent in his childhood, his coach didn’t expect much because of the superior height of his parents and brother.
But when Xi Ming, at twelve, had mastered all five types of triple jumps and possessed a triple-triple combination, his coach Zhao Zhengchang deliberated for a while before recruiting him into the provincial team.
So Xi Ming’s growth spurt was within everyone’s expectations. What was regrettable was that the 3A he had just developed never got a chance to shine before it was lost, and the successive loss of techniques meant he didn’t secure a spot in the Junior Grand Prix (JGP) selection, missing the opportunity to see the international stage.
This situation was, of course, very different from Xi Ming’s previous life.
Back then, his growth had been smooth and steady, his technique hadn’t been greatly affected, and he had even developed a quadruple toe loop thanks to his increased strength.
So, at fifteen, standing at an unremarkable height of just over 1.6 meters, and never having had the chance to stand up and see his own height afterward, when Xi Ming was awakened by memories from before his rebirth and saw that he was now 1.73 meters tall, his reaction was predictable.
Satisfied, happy, keep going!
Of course, after his first time on the ice post-rebirth, when he fell all over the place due to unstable balance, Xi Ming no longer thought about reaching 1.8 meters in one go. After all, he cherished the hard-won second chance on the ice and didn’t want to become a “sinking lake” skater.
Height and the halo of genius were probably things Xi Ming couldn’t have both at once after his rebirth, just like his little curly hair he still hadn’t found a balance for that either. Xi Ming, who was quite laid-back about many things, didn’t dwell on it too much.
Or rather, when at school, Xi Ming rarely thought too much about these things. Because at school, there were more obvious things bothering him.
“Ah, Ouyang is so handsome, go go go!”
“Chengyu is worthy of being the basketball team captain, so amazing! Chengyu, Chengyu, you’re the coolest!”
Under the shade of a tree not far from the basketball court, Gu Fu returned with two bottles of water, unscrewed one, and handed it to Xi Ming. He sat down with Xi Ming in the shade, watching the rather fervent scene on the basketball court. “Really noisy, isn’t it?”
“Ah, yeah.” Xi Ming unscrewed the cap and took a sip. His expression wasn’t so much annoyed by the noise as it was dazed, the kind of not-quite-adjusted look.
As mentioned before, this world often felt unfamiliar to Xi Ming, and one of the reasons came from school.
Xi Ming remembered that he and everyone else had been at an ordinary middle school before, but now, out of nowhere, it had become a private aristocratic school one he’d never even heard of before his rebirth. And his three friends, who had seemed so ordinary in his previous life, had somehow suddenly become very conspicuous.
Just like now, when they were having a perfectly ordinary PE class, the moment Ouyang Hao and Qiao Chengyu started dividing into teams for a basketball game, students who should have been in class appeared out of nowhere, surrounding the basketball court to cheer for Ouyang Hao and Qiao Chengyu.
“Ouyang! Ouyang!” With another burst of cheers, Xi Ming looked at Ouyang Hao leaping high in the middle of the court.
Under the dazzling sunlight, Ouyang Hao seemed to glow. And even though he was the center of attention at that moment, his expression remained utterly nonchalant, carrying an inexplicable air of aloof handsomeness.
Not only was he blessed with an enviable wealthy family background, but he was also great at sports. He really was like the protagonist of a novel, Ouyang.
Xi Ming sighed unconsciously in his heart, then suddenly stiffened as a thought struck him. He turned to Gu Fu. “Gu Fu, our school doesn’t have some legend about an F4 or H4, does it?”
Gu Fu gave Xi Ming a strange look, puzzled. “What’s that? A novel you’ve been reading lately?”
“Nothing.” Xi Ming shook his head, also finding his own thought a bit amusing.
Suddenly reminded of his friends Ouyang Hao, the elite from a wealthy family who excelled at everything; Qiao Chengyu, the basketball team captain with an athletic vibe; Gu Fu, the shrewd and scheming vice president of the student council and himself, a figure skater, who in others’ eyes probably came across as the artistic type, Xi Ming almost thought he had stumbled into some campus idol novel.
If that were the case, wouldn’t he be a supporting character in a campus romantic comedy? But he couldn’t imagine his friends getting tangled up in the kind of multi-sided love affairs you’d see on TV.
Xi Ming’s mind wandered off on a wild tangent, and he couldn’t help but let out a snort of laughter.
“What’s got you so amused?” Gu Fu teased, pressing his cold water bottle against Xi Ming, then, at the other’s bewildered look, pointed ahead. “Yu Jinghui’s here. Let’s go don’t be late for training.”
Xi Ming followed the direction of Gu Fu’s finger and, sure enough, saw Yu Jinghui waving at him.
“Go on. We’ll hang out when you’re on break.” Meeting Xi Ming’s gaze, Gu Fu waved him off, signaling he could leave. During school hours, Xi Ming always ducked out early for training in the afternoon, and Gu Fu and the others were used to it. “I’ll cover for you with the teacher.”
“Thanks, Gu Fu.” Xi Ming clapped him on the shoulder, then took off running toward Yu Jinghui.
Gu Fu watched Xi Ming reach Yu Jinghui’s side, and when he turned back to wave, Gu Fu returned the gesture with a barely perceptible smile. Only when Xi Ming and Yu Jinghui had vanished from sight did Gu Fu lower his head and pull out his phone, the light reflecting off it hiding his expression.
“Well, then where did A Ming find out about that?”